Concur for Reimbursement

Reimbursement for expenses (typically: conference travel) can be administratively challenging, but are tractable if we follow some basic guidelines. All travel reimbursements are handled via the UPenn Concur system. If you have a PennKey then you are able to submit reimbursements; if you are an alumni or visitor it is a different workflow.

Transport (flights, trains, etc) should be booked directly via Concur(see below); this obviates the need for post-hoc reimbursement.

Please note: it is essential that reimbursements are submitted in a timely manner; Penn policy prohibits reimbursements after 6 months. Sometimes review can be lengthy and several revisions are needed due to the multiple layers of compliance at Penn. As such, requests not submitted immediately after they are incurred risk being unpaid; sadly there is no remedy for this after 6 months.

For more details on funding for travel, please see the travel guidelines wiki.

Also, note that there is a the weekly office hour on Thursdays 11:00a-12:00am with Patrick Doyle for questions on concur reimbursment. (zoom link pinned on #concur channel in slack).

Finally, note that this workflow does NOT apply to research track residents, who should talk directly to the residency admins.

Adding delegates

Please give Concur delegate access to the finance team members below. This only needs to be done once.

  1. Stace Moore
  2. Patrick Doyle
  3. Lucinda Bertsinger

To do this, go to Profile Settings —> Expense Settings —> Expense Delegates

Get approval for the expense

Email Ted to ask for approval of expense and ask for the funding source; take a screenshot. You will need to provide this in the expense report.

Create your expense report

Please review this powerpoint which provides an excellent step-by-step guide for a typical expense report from a confernece (thanks to Juliette!).

After you’ve created your report, it is good to review the checklist from the finance team

CONCUR Checklist From the Finance Team

  • Report Header:
    • Check to make sure correct conference dates are listed
    • Business Justification: “Travel to SOBP to present data relevant to grant X/Y/Z”, etc
    • Notes to Approver: Indicate funding source that Ted provided (”Please use fund X”). Account numbers are not needed.
  • Documentation
    • Proof of PI approval: screenshot of Ted’s approval email.
    • Conference Registration: Attach photo of your conference ID; often this is attached to the hotel/lodging expense.
    • Conference Itinerary: Attach PDF of conference schedule; often attached to the conference registration fee expense.
    • Note: for all expenses, the receipt must display your name + last 4 digits of credit card #; if it is not listed on receipt then please attach documentation from your credit card portal for that expense.
    • Transportation receipts (flight, train, taxi/ride share).
    • Hotel/Lodging receipt — must be itemized by expense type (taxes, parking, etc)
    • Meals:
      • Per Diem (do not request per diem for any meal that was provided by the Conference or Business Dinners when you were treated by another party)
      • Business Lunch/Dinners
        • Itemized receipt
        • Comment should breakdown the total (e.g. food+drink+tax+tip = total)
        • Attendees added to the Attendees List (name, position and company required)

Extensive additional resources on expense reports can be found here.

Ask the finance team to review your report

Email Patrick that you’ve created the report and ask him to review it. Once any suggested edits are incorporated, you can submit it.

If a concur report is returned, you can find the business administrator’s feedback by clicking into the report where you see the listed expenses –> click “details” –> “comments” – this is where approvers will comment if they need additional information or documentation.

Update the Travel Reimbursement Tracker

Equity and transparency in use of support of travel is important, and are openly tracked; please see the tracker pinned in the #concur channel in slack. If you are not on this sheet already, make yourself a row. If the conference you are attending is not listed, create it as a column. Then fill in the amount you are requesting support for in the cell that correpsonds to your row and that conf’s col. Only record the amount you are asking for support from the lab. Do NOT include any expenses that were covered by travel awards or other individual-specific funds.

Booking flights via Concur

Booking flights via Concur is vastly preferred over booking flights on your own. In addition to obviating the need for trainees to carry the expense until reimbursement, it also automatically provides Penn travel insurance.

  1. Before booking flights, ask Ted (via email or DM) what the fudning source should be.
  2. Check that your travel approver is John Hyon. In Concur: Profile > Company Information > Travel Approver.
  3. Select flights directly through Concur (login via Pennkey, select destination and dates under Trip Search).
  4. After selecting the flights, payment option = billing goes directly to the UPENN DIRECT BILL ACCOUNT* (…9836).
  5. Next page is trip booking information:
    • trip name is filled automatically
    • add business justification
    • Add funding code under Notes to Approver